


Encounters

by Inkpot



Series: Another Thread: Unbroken Bonds [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: (yet), Alternate Universe, Gadget is a pro espionage and rescue agent, Gen, alternate timeline of an alternate universe, feel free to ask for more of/about this au/timeline I will talk forever, he's learned to be a lot of things, if you look close there's lots of small cues to sad times, if you've heard me talk about this timeline the surprise is probably already spoiled but shhh, no gay - Freeform, semiverbal Gadget the Wolf, this AU is not nice to the poor wolf boy and I am (somewhat) sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 16:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20838617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkpot/pseuds/Inkpot
Summary: The first few times the Resistance encountered Gadget, they didn't realize exactly how important he'd be.





	Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Hey look, a proper plot-containing work from my Another Thread AU! And... it's not for the main timeline. But still. 
> 
> Set during Forces, more exact time is mentioned in the fic. This is what I like to call the 'Unbroken Bonds' timeline, so. Organization. Yeah.

The first sighting was a month after the war began.

Unsurprisingly Espio was the first to spot him. He’d arrived in the area pursuing rumors of Eggman’s new weapon/ally (they still weren’t entirely sure which was more accurate) only to find it already in ruins, what people had lived there long fled or gone. A ghostly wind blew across the rooftops, the soft sound only emphasizing the lack of people.

Espio remained invisible as he passed through the streets. Though there wasn’t a single sign of life, something had his senses prickling. Perhaps it was merely the emptiness setting off some concept of wrongness. But it didn’t hurt to be safe.

A flash of red caught his attention, bright and jarring against the bleak landscape, but vanished around a corner before he could see what it was. He checked his weapons, scanned his surroundings once more, and pursued in silence.

He followed the whispering sound of gravel stirring under careful footsteps, someone trying to remain unheard but not quite experienced enough to evade the ninja’s keen hearing. Though he would concede that they fared better than the average person.

It wasn’t more than a few turns before the footsteps stopped. He slowed at the end of the nearest street, glancing around once more before turning the corner where he’d last heard the sound. What he found was a red wolf leaning against the corner of a wall and a dumpster, eyes closed and breathing heavy but silent.

Espio relaxed slightly as he realized there wasn’t a threat. He briefly considered the wisdom of startling someone who had to be on edge and might be armed, then stepped back to take three quarters cover by the corner before dropping his camouflage. “What are you doing here?”

The wolf flipped a burst wispon out of who knows where, eyes flaring with the fire he was prepared to unleash. He caught himself when he saw Espio and lowered the wispon, eyes still alert and guarded.

Espio stepped into the open, hands raised to demonstrate his lack of weapon. Not that it would prevent him defending himself if he was attacked, but the wolf didn’t need to know that. “At ease. I’m here because there were rumors Eggman’s new weapon was sighted in the area. It’s best to head for the nearest Resistance headquarters or refugee camp, where it’s safer.”

The wolf’s wispon fell to point at the ground, his eyes following. He mouthed something unspoken to himself; the only word Espio caught was ‘weapon’. His eyes rose to meet Espio’s a moment later, sadness lurking in them even as the rest of his face held nothing but determination. He shook his head.

Espio frowned. “Are you sure? In times like this, it’s safest to stick together.”

He shook his head again, pressing a groove on a wispon that caused it to collapse into a pocket-sized rectangle. The rectangle went into a pocket, and he raised his hands. “[You’re safest away from me.]”

Before Espio could process the unexpected sign language enough to respond, the wolf fired a rope off into the distance and shot away, vanishing in an instant.

Espio stared after him, shaking his head after a moment. It wouldn’t do any good to wonder at the wolf’s odd attitude. There was always more work to do, much of it time critical, and he’d already delayed long enough.

(He mentioned the encounter in his report, a minor detail that wasn’t critical but worth noting for reference. Silver frowned as if thinking about something, but aside from that nobody reacted, and the time traveler didn’t share whatever was on his mind.)<strike></strike>

The second sighting was a month later, two months into the war.

The resistance team had split into smaller units upon arriving at the city, doing what they could to evacuate civilians before the ongoing destruction got them. Silver acted as a unit to himself, moving rubble with his powers and protecting refugees from collapsing buildings. He was wearing himself out, and he might not be able to use his powers much for a couple days, but he pressed on, driving himself past the limit. In a city this big they couldn’t save everyone. He knew that. But he would get as many as he could before his body gave out.

A crash to his left had him whipping around, just in time to catch the collapsing building before it fell. He dropped to the rooftop beneath him (jarring his legs rather badly) to conserve energy, groaning under the unexpected weight. Worse, through his blurred vision he could see movement through a window, a handful of civilians panicking as they tried to get out but he couldn’t help right now, he needed to activate his com and call the others, he needed to-

A smear of color zipped across his vision, impacting and sticking to the building’s wall. Silver managed to make out a red figure ducking through the window, emerging a moment later with someone else. They zipped away at an angle, outside Silver’s limited range of view, but the red one was back on the building seconds later only to zip away with another person.

The person made several more trips back and forth, finally swinging down along the building. They landed on the ground for only a moment before something shot by several feet to Silver’s right, embedding in a taller building behind him. The wire trail left behind went taut, and a moment later someone popped up over the building’s edge.

The wolf ran up to Silver even while winding his grappling hook in. “Cleared, drop it!”

Silver didn’t need to be told twice. He released the building, letting it topple to the ground as he tried not to do the same.

A gentle but solid grip caught his shoulder, steadying him while he regained his senses. “Thanks,” he said once he felt more stable. The hand retreated as he turned to face the wolf. His eyes went wide as realization finally hit. “You!”

The wolf jumped back a step, looking more startled than alarmed. He glanced around the roof before looking back at Silver and pointing at himself, head tilting in question.

“Yes, y-” Silver cut his sentence short as another crash sounded. “Actually, talk later. Team up?”

Fortunately the wolf seemed to be on the same page. He just nodded, pointed in a direction, and shot his grappling hook. Silver took off after him.

Between the two of them, they managed to cover a lot more ground than Silver had hoped. He was running low on energy after that last stunt, but with someone to handle things he’d normally have to fly for he was able to conserve much better. Still, eventually his stores were depleted, and he almost dropped out of the air. The wolf managed to grab him midair but it was close.

“Thanks,” he managed to say, leaning heavily on the wolf. He blinked. “Sorry, I didn’t get your name?”

The wolf kind of looked at him, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he smiled. It was a little awkward, like he was maybe out of practice, but genuine nonetheless. “Gadget.”

He managed to suppress his flinch, but only just. _A red wolf could be a coincidence but when the names match up –_ “Nice. I’m Silver.”

Gadget hummed, using his free hand to flip out a small tablet-looking device. He tapped it a few times before tucking it away again. “Hang on.”

Silver blinked, but did as asked, which turned out to be a good thing when Gadget grappling hooked them both into the air.

It only took a couple minutes before they landed by the temporary resistance camp, set up to treat any injured refugees or workers.

Silver only just noticed Gadget turn away before he left. “Hey, wait a second!”

Gadget glanced back over his shoulder with a questioning look. Waiting.

Silver hesitated, realizing he didn’t know how to word his question. Hi, do you know why someone matching your description shows up in old documents in the future? Not exactly the best opener with most people. But he needed to know. This wolf might be crucial to saving his future… but only if he could find out why.

“Why are you important?”

He only realized he’d spoken out loud when Gadget jumped and spun to face him. Silver flushed and started to apologize, trying to come up with an excuse, when Gadget’s expression registered. He wasn’t just confused or offput by Silver’s blunder. He looked terrified.

Silver wasn’t sure he wanted to know how that weird question caused that look, and he sure didn’t want to be the one causing it. For anyone.

He started speaking quickly, not wanting to scare the wolf off with his blunder. “Sorry I was just thinking out loud, you don’t have to actually answer th-”

“I didn’t mean to be.”

Silver froze, staring at the wolf. That. Was probably the longest sentence he’d said that whole time.

Gadget’s eyes were hazy, but they cleared after another moment. He raised his hands, frowned, and lowered them again with a slight headshake. “I couldn’t let him go alone.” His voice was quiet, and not quite even, cracking in the middle of the sentence.

“Who?” Silver’s voice was equally quiet.

Gadget opened his mouth as if to answer, but what came out was a pained gasp as he crumpled to the ground.

“Gadget?!” Silver dove down next to him, helping the wolf sit upright as he wheezed and clutched at his chest. “What’s happening, what do I-”

“No time,” Gadget said, pulling away and dragging himself back to his feet. He cast a look toward the makeshift camp, pain and regret mixed with fear, before turning a similar look on Silver. “I need to keep him away.”

He shot his grappling hook toward the setting sun and vanished before Silver could respond. The hedgehog cursed quietly, sincerely regretting that he couldn’t just fly after him. The best he could do was rest and recharge in preparation for the next mission.

(He later heard that Eggman’s new weapon had appeared in the western reaches of the city shortly after he’d left, away from the areas they had yet to evacuate. He doubted it was a coincidence, but he couldn’t say what it was.)

The third time was only a couple weeks later. Probably because after Silver shared his experience, their main team was on the lookout for any sign of the mysterious red wolf. Any information from Silver’s future was worth looking into, if only because they didn’t have any better ideas.

Amy was out in the field for once, tearing through robots with her hammer. She didn’t get much chance to do this anymore – they needed her as a leader far more than they needed her melee skills. But sometimes she had a desperate need to bust some heads before all the stress drove her over the edge.

All too soon, the swarm depleted, the last robot punted into the sky. Amy shaded her eyes to watch it fly until she couldn’t see it anymore. She released a heavy sigh, feeling better but not as much better as she’d hoped.

“You’ll feel like yourself again after we win this war,” she said quietly. Talking to herself for encouragement had become a habit since… since the war started. Some days the moments of forced optimism were the only thing that kept her going. (Some days they weren’t enough.)

She took another deep breath and started walking, freezing after only a couple steps when her gaze fell on a spot of color in a niche of the town’s dirtied walls. A spot of red, to be specific, belonging to a wolf that matched Silver and Espio’s descriptions.

A moment’s hesitation was all Amy allowed herself before striding briskly toward the nook in the doors. Her steps slowed as she got closer, worry setting in when it sank in that the wolf wasn’t moving. Then she noticed the steady rise and fall of his chest and released a breath. How he’d slept through that battle she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t going to worry about that.

The crunching of her footsteps, on the other hand, was apparently enough to wake him. His eyes shot open, alarmed but not quite awake as he fumbled for his pouches.

Amy jumped back and put her hands up, wincing at the clatter when her hammer hit the ground. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you!”

Her voice seemed to jar him further awake, the haze fading from his eyes until he actually seemed to be looking at her. He stared for a moment, then offered a tentative wave. Maybe unsure how to proceed.

Not that Amy knew any better. “Uh… hi. Mind if I sit down?”

Gadget sat up a little more, sitting cross legged in the nook, and waved at the ground in front of him. Amy sat down in front of him. Then they sat and stared at each other in awkward silence.

“Are you Gadget?” Amy finally asked. Because if he wasn’t this would get even more awkward. Fortunately he nodded, and she breathed an internal sigh of relief. “Silver mentioned you. He was really worried when you ran off like that.”

Gadget’s eyes shuttered, his previously open and friendly expression closing off and shoulders rising.

Okay, not a good topic. Ease into it. Subject change, subj- ah! “How did you manage to sleep through those robots attacking, anyway? You can’t be that deep a sleeper if you woke up because I walked toward you.”

The wolf’s shoulders relaxed some, but his face remained closed off. He raised his hands, frowned, then made a few short gestures.

Amy stared at him, drawing a blank for several seconds before it clicked. “Oh! Is that sign language?” Nod. “Well… sorry, but I only know signs for no and hi. Can… can you not talk?” Silver said they’d spoken, but that the wolf had been pretty quiet, so…

Gadget tilted his head, then waggled a hand back and forth as if to say so-so or kind of. He pointed at the ground, then his throat, and shook his head.

“You… can’t talk here?” Head shake, another so-so motion. “Um… can’t talk now?” Thumbs up.

Amy sighed in relief, then frowned. Now what were they supposed to do?

Gadget also seemed at a loss. On top of that he kept glancing around, looking almost afraid of something. They hadn't sat for more than a minute before he tensed and hopped to his feet, offering a jaunty salute and painfully fake smile.

Amy panicked, realizing he was about to leave, and lunged forward to grab his leg before he could vanish again. “Wait!”

He jerked away from her hand like he’d been burned, stopping just out of reach to look back at her. Though… for as swift as his reaction had been, he didn’t seem particularly alarmed.

Amy shook off her confusion and tried to find something to say. A moment later she brightened, pulling her headpiece off and holding it out. “Here, take this! That way you can contact the resistance if you need something, or even just want to talk. It must get lonely being out on your own, but you can always call one of us, kay?”

Gadget accepted her offering, smile a bit bemused but still grateful. He tucked the headpiece in one of his bags, waved, and grappling hooked away.

There was a moment of quiet as Amy watched the place he’d vanished. Then it hit her. “I just gave a headset to someone who can’t always talk.”

(By the time she got back, Tails had received and decoded a message that had him cackling for reasons he refused to explain. Eventually he calmed down enough to let everyone know that Gadget definitely lived up to his name, and they now had a working line of communication.)

The time after that was only a few days later, and the first planned meeting. Gadget sent them a general area, requesting they pick a more specific landmark but not elaborating on why. Not that Silver much cared beyond getting a chance to speak with the mysterious wolf again.

The telekinetic was currently perched in a niche above the street, watching the statue he'd selected as a meeting place. He didn’t want to attract attention from a stray robot sentry, but he could see the area clearly from his location. 

As seemed to be the norm, the first sign of Gadget’s arrival was a flash of red in his peripheral, followed by the wolf landing on a balcony across the plaza and waving. Silver waved back before hopping down to the statue's base.

"So can we talk here or do you know somewhere better?" Silver asked as Gadget landed beside him. “I only named this place for an easy landmark.”

The wolf glanced around for a moment, brow furrowed in thought, before signaling Silver to follow and shooting into the sky.

They slipped between buildings smoothly, like water flowing through cracks in a dry streambed. Silver admired Gadget's skill with the wire as he thought of the lightning strike patterns he'd woven through smoke in that burning city. Thank goodness he wasn't trying to run this time. Keeping up would have been a pain.

They landed on a roof maybe half a mile from their first meeting point, enclosed on two sides by skyscrapers and a room closed off by glass to one side. Or a room that had once been enclosed; two of the sheet glass windows were shattered, one inward and one out. A third had been carefully removed and propped against the wall. Inside, a pair of battered armchairs had been pushed together in the corner, forming a cushioned nook just big enough for a small body to curl up in. 

Silver realized with a pang that Gadget had brought him to his current hideaway. Not one he planned to use long term, he judged, but still a show of trust he hadn't needed to offer. The whole thing - both the slapdash arrangements and the unexpected openness - hit closer to home than he'd planned.

He fought down a lump in his throat as he returned his attention to Gadget. “I guess I can start. You probably wondered why I recognized you, huh?”

Gadget shrugged, offering a lopsided smile. “You're Sonic's friend,” he said, as if that explained everything. To be fair, it kind of did.

Silver laughed, a little weak after the reminder (he's gone and I never got to say anything). “Alright then, you ask any questions you have.”

Gadget's expression shifted to pondering. He raised his hands, winced, and lowered them. 

This time Silver registered the gesture. “You prefer signing, don't you?” A nod, slightly sheepish. “Maybe if we meet up more you can teach me some. For now, I've got a pad of paper or a tablet if either of those help.”

Gadget lit up as the mentioned items came into view, the expression of a child who couldn't believe they'd gotten such a perfect birthday present. He took the tablet and opened a notes app, typing out a simple **thanks**.

Silver smiled in response. It had definitely been a good idea to bring alternative communication tools. “Ask whatever, or share whatever. I'm here to tell you what we know and see if something clicks.”

Gadget hummed, but what he typed next wasn't a question. **[I think I should go first in case we're interrupted.]**

The air seemed to darken with those words. Silver shifted to a more serious tone to match the mood. “Then go ahead. Focus on major points but don't leave out details, you never know what's going to be important.”

Gadget nodded and continued typing. **[Big things first. I’m soul bonded to Infinite.]**

(That wasn’t the last time one of them met Gadget, but after that they stopped keeping count.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](lessinkmoregraphite.tumblr.com).


End file.
